Keyboard ALT + g to toggle grid overlay
Work faster and more efficiently by using the AutoCAD shortcuts below. You can find a downloadable list of shortcuts and commands in the AutoCAD Keyboard Shortcuts PDF.
Below, you'll find an abbreviated list of commands that can be used in AutoCAD.
Ctrl+G | Toggle Grid |
Ctrl+E | Cycle isometric planes |
Ctrl+F | Toggle running object snaps |
Ctrl+H | Toggle Pick Style |
Ctrl+Shift+H | Toggle Hide pallets |
Ctrl+I | Toggle Coords |
Ctrl+Shift+I | Toggle Infer Constraints |
Ctrl+0 (zero) | Clean Screen |
Ctrl+1 | Property Palette |
Ctrl+2 | Design Centre Palette |
Ctrl+3 | Tool Palette |
Ctrl+4 | Sheet Set Palette |
Ctrl+6 | DBConnect Manager |
Ctrl+7 | Mark-up Set Manager Palette |
Ctrl+8 | Quick Calc |
Ctrl+9 | Command Line |
Ctrl+N | New drawing |
Ctrl+S | Save drawing |
Ctrl+O | Open drawing |
Ctrl+P | Plot dialogue box |
Ctrl+Tab | Switch to next |
Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Switch to previous drawing |
Ctrl+Page Up | Switch to previous tab in current drawing |
Ctrl+Page Down | Switch to next tab in current drawing |
Ctrl+Q | Exit |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Save drawing as |
F1 | Display Help |
F2 | Toggle text screen |
F3 | Toggle object snap mode |
F4 | Toggle 3DOsnap |
F5 | Toggle Isoplane |
F6 | Toggle Dynamic UCS |
F7 | Toggle grid mode |
F8 | Toggle ortho mode |
F9 | Toggle snap mode |
F10 | Toggle polar mode |
F11 | Toggle object snap tracking |
F12 | Toggle dynamic input mode |
Ctrl+A | Select all objects |
Ctrl+C | Copy object |
Ctrl+K | Insert hyperlink |
Ctrl+X | Cut object |
Ctrl+V | Paste object |
Ctrl+Shift+C | Copy to clipboard with base point |
Ctrl+Shift+V | Paste data as block |
Ctrl+Z | Undo last action |
Ctrl+Y | Redo last action |
Ctrl+[ | Cancel current command (or ctrl+\) |
ESC | Cancel current command |
A | ARC/Creates an arc |
ADC | ADCENTER/Manages and inserts content such as blocks, xrefs and hatch patterns |
AA | AREA/Calculates the area and perimeter of objects or defined areas |
AL | ALIGN/Aligns objects with other objects in 2D and 3D |
AP | APPLOAD/Load application |
AR | ARRAY/Creates multiple copies of objects in a pattern |
ARR | ACTRECORD/Starts the Action Recorder |
ARM | ACTUSERMESSAGE/Inserts a user message into an action macro |
ARU | ACTUSERINPUT/Pauses for user input in an action macro |
ARS | ACTSTOP/Stops the Action Recorder and provides the option of saving the recorded actions to an action macro file |
ATI | ATTIPEDIT/Changes the textual content of an attribute within a block |
ATT | ATTDEF/Redefines a block and updates associated attributes |
ATE | ATTEDIT/Changes attribute information in a block |
B | BLOCK/Creates a block definition from selected objects |
BC | BCLOSE/Closes the Block Editor |
BE | BEDIT/Opens the block definition in the Block Editor |
BH | HATCH/Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill or gradient fill |
BO | BOUNDARY/Creates a region or a polyline from an enclosed area |
BR | BREAK/Breaks the selected object between two points |
BS | BSAVE/Saves the current block definition |
BVS | BVSTATE/Creates, sets or deletes a visibility state in a dynamic block |
C | CIRCLE/Creates a circle |
CAM | CAMERA/Sets a camera and target location to create and save a 3D perspective view of objects |
CBAR | CONSTRAINTBAR/A toolbar-like UI element that displays the available geometric constraints on an object |
CH | PROPERTIES/Controls properties of existing objects |
CHA | CHAMFER/Bevels the edges of objects |
CHK | CHECKSTANDARDS/Checks the current drawing for standards violations |
CLI | COMMANDLINE/Displays the Command Line window |
COL | COLOUR/Sets the colour for new objects |
CO | COPY/Copies objects a specified distance in a specified direction |
CT | CTABLESTYLE/Sets the name of the current table style |
CUBE | NAVVCUBE/Controls the visibility and display properties of the ViewCube tool |
CYL | CYLINDER/Creates a 3D solid cylinder |
D | DIMSTYLE/Creates and modifies dimension styles |
DAN | DIMANGULAR/Creates an angular dimension |
DAR | DIMARC/Creates an arc length dimension |
DBA | DIMBASELINE/Creates a linear, angular or ordinate dimension from the baseline of the previous or selected dimension |
DBC | DBCONNECT/Provides an interface to external database tables |
DCE | DIMCENTER/Creates the centre mark or the centrelines of circles and arcs |
DCO | DIMCONTINUE/Creates a dimension that starts from an extension line of a previously created dimension |
DCON | DIMCONSTRAINT/Applies dimensional constraints to selected objects or points on objects |
DDA | DIMDISASSOCIATE/Removes associativity from selected dimensions |
DDI | DIMDIAMETER/Creates a diameter dimension for a circle or an arc |
DED | DIMEDIT/Edits dimension text and extension lines |
DI | DIST/Measures the distance and angle between two points |
DIV | DIVIDE/Creates evenly spaced point objects or blocks along the length or perimeter of an object |
DJL | DIMJOGLINE/Adds or removes a jog line on a linear or aligned dimension |
DJO | DIMJOGGED/Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs |
DL | DATALINK/Displays the Data Link dialogue box |
DLU | DATALINKUPDATE/Updates data to or from an established external data link |
DO | DONUT/Creates a filled circle or a wide ring |
DOR | DIMORDINATE/Creates ordinate dimensions |
DOV | DIMOVERRIDE/Controls overrides of system variables used in selected dimensions |
DR | DRAWORDER/Changes the draw order of images and other objects |
DRA | DIMRADIUS/Creates a radius dimension for a circle or an arc |
DRE | DIMREASSOCIATE/Associates or re-associates selected dimensions to objects or points on objects |
DRM | DRAWINGRECOVERY/Displays a list of drawing files that can be recovered after a programme or system failure |
DS | DSETTINGS/Sets grid and snap, polar and object snap tracking, object snap modes, Dynamic Input and Quick Properties |
DT | TEXT/Creates a single-line text object |
DV | DVIEW/Defines parallel projection or perspective views by using a camera and target |
DX | DATAEXTRACTION/Extracts drawing data and merges data from an external source to a data extraction table or external file |
E | ERASE/Removes objects from a drawing |
ED | DDEDIT/Edits single-line text, dimension text, attribute definitions and feature control frames |
EL | ELLIPSE/Creates an ellipse or an elliptical arc |
EPDF | EXPORTPDF/Exports drawing to PDF |
ER | EXTERNALREFERENCES/Opens the External References palette |
EX | EXTEND/Extends objects to meet the edges of other objects |
EXIT | QUIT/Exits the programme |
EXP | EXPORT/Saves the objects in a drawing to a different file format |
EXT | EXTRUDE/Extends the dimensions of a 2D object or 3D face into 3D space |
F | FILLET/Rounds and fillets the edges of objects |
FI | FILTER/Creates a list of requirements that an object must meet to be included in a selection set |
FS | FSMODE/Creates a selection set of all objects that touch the selected object |
FSHOT | FLATSHOT/Creates a 2D representation of all 3D objects based on the current view |
G | GROUP/Creates and manages saved sets of objects called groups |
GCON | GEOCONSTRAINT/Applies or persists geometric relationships between objects or points on objects |
GD | GRADIENT/Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a gradient fill |
GEO | GEOGRAPHICLOCATION/Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file |
H | HATCH/Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill or gradient fill |
HE | HATCHEDIT/Modifies an existing hatch or fill |
HI | HIDE/Regenerates a 3D wireframe model with hidden lines suppressed |
I | INSERT/Inserts a block or drawing into the current drawing |
IAD | IMAGEADJUST/Controls the image display of the brightness, contrast and fade values of images |
IAT | IMAGEATTACH/Inserts a reference to an image file |
ICL | IMAGECLIP/Crops the display of a selected image to a specified boundary |
ID | ID/Displays the UCS co-ordinate values of a specified location |
IM | IMAGE/Displays the External References palette |
IMP | IMPORT/Imports files of different formats into the current drawing |
IN | INTERSECT/Creates a 3D solid, surface or 2D region from overlapping solids, surfaces or regions |
INF | INTERFERE/Creates a temporary 3D solid from the interferences between two sets of selected 3D solids |
IO | INSERTOBJ/Inserts a linked or embedded object |
J | JOIN/Joins similar objects to form a single, unbroken object |
JOG | DIMJOGGED/Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs |
L | LINE/Creates straight line segments |
LA | LAYER/Manages layers and layer properties |
LAS | LAYERSTATE/Saves, restores and manages named layer states |
LE | QLEADER/Creates a leader and leader annotation |
LEN | LENGTHEN/Changes the length of objects and the included angle of arcs |
LESS | MESHSMOOTHLESS/Decreases the level of smoothness for mesh objects by one level |
LI | LIST/Displays property data for selected objects |
LO | LAYOUT/Creates and modifies drawing layout tabs |
LT | LINETYPE/Loads, sets and modifies linetypes |
LTS | LTSCALE/Changes the scale factor of linetypes for all objects in a drawing |
LW | LWEIGHT/Sets the current lineweight, lineweight display options and lineweight units |
M | MOVE/Moves objects a specified distance in a specified direction |
MA | MATCHPROP/Applies the properties of a selected object to other objects |
ME | MEASURE/Joins similar objects to form a single, unbroken object |
MEA | MEASUREGEOM/Measures the distance, radius, angle, area and volume of selected objects or sequence of points |
MI | MIRROR/Creates a mirrored copy of selected objects |
ML | MLINE/Creates multiple parallel lines |
MLA | MLEADERALIGN/Aligns and spaces selected multileader objects |
MLC | MLEADERCOLLECT/Organises selected multileaders that contain blocks into rows or columns and displays the result with a single leader |
MLD | MLEADER/Creates a multileader object |
MLE | MLEADEREDIT/Adds leader lines to, or removes leader lines from, a multileader object |
MLS | MLEADERSTYLE/Creates and modifies multileader styles |
MO | PROPERTIES/Controls properties of existing objects |
MORE | MESHSMOOTHMORE/Increases the level of smoothness for mesh objects by one level |
MS | MSPACE/Switches from paper space to a model space viewport |
MSM | MARK-UP/Opens the Mark-up Set Manager |
MT | MTEXT/Creates a multi-line text object |
MV | MVIEW/Creates and controls layout viewports |
NORTH | GEOGRAPHICLOCATION/Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file |
NSHOT | NEWSHOT/Creates a named view with motion that is played back when viewed with ShowMotion |
NVIEW | NEWVIEW/Creates a named view with no motion |
O | OFFSET/Creates concentric circles, parallel lines and parallel curves |
OFFSETSRF | SURFOFFSET/ Creates a parallel surface or solid by setting an offset distance from a surface |
OP | OPTIONS/Customises the programme settings |
ORBIT/3DO | 3DORBIT/Rotates the view in 3D space, but constrained to horizontal and vertical orbit only |
OS | OSNAP/Sets running object snap modes |
P | PAN/Adds a parameter with grips to a dynamic block definition |
PA | PASTESPEC/Pastes objects from the Clipboard into the current drawing and controls the format of the data |
PAR | PARAMETERS/Controls the associative parameters used in the drawing |
PARAM | BPARAMETER/Adds a parameter with grips to a dynamic block definition |
PATCH | SURFPATCH/Creates a new surface by fitting a cap over a surface edge that forms a closed loop |
PCATTACH | POINTCLOUDATTACH/Inserts an indexed point cloud file into the current drawing |
PE | PEDIT/Edits polylines and 3D polygon meshes |
PL | PLINE/Creates a 2D polyline |
PO | POINT/Creates a point object |
POFF | HIDEPALETTES/Hides currently displayed palettes (including the command line) |
POL | POLYGON/Creates an equilateral closed polyline |
PON | SHOWPALETTES/Restores the display of hidden palettes |
PR | PROPERTIES/Displays Properties palette |
PRE | PREVIEW/Displays the drawing as it will be plotted |
PLOT/Plots a drawing to a plotter, printer or file | |
PS | PSPACE/Switches from a model space viewport to paper space |
PSOLID | POLYSOLID/Creates a 3D wall-like polysolid |
PU | PURGE/Removes unused items, such as block definitions and layers, from the drawing |
PYR | PYRAMID/Creates a 3D solid pyramid |
QC | QUICKCALC/Opens the QuickCalc calculator |
QCUI | QUICKCUI/Displays the Customise User Interface Editor in a collapsed state |
QP | QUICKPROPERTIES/Displays open drawings and layouts in a drawing in preview images |
Q | QSAVE/Saves the current drawing |
QVD | QVDRAWING/Displays open drawings and layouts in a drawing using preview images |
QVDC | QVDRAWINGCLOSE/Closes preview images of open drawings and layouts in a drawing |
QVL | QVLAYOUT/Displays preview images of model space and layouts in a drawing |
QVLC | QVLAYOUTCLOSE/Closes preview images of model space and layouts in the current drawing |
R | REDRAW/Refreshes the display in the current viewport |
RA | REDRAWALL/Refreshes the display in all viewports |
RC | RENDERCROP/Renders a specified rectangular area, called a crop window, within a viewport |
RE | REGEN/Regenerates the entire drawing from the current viewport |
REA | REGENALL/Regenerates the drawing and refreshes all viewports |
REC | RECTANG/Creates a rectangular polyline |
REG | REGION/Converts an object that encloses an area into a region object |
REN | RENAME/Changes the names assigned to items such as layers and dimension styles |
REV | REVOLVE/Creates a 3D solid or surface by sweeping a 2D object around an axis |
RO | ROTATE/Rotates objects around a base point |
RP | RENDERPRESETS/Specifies render presets, reusable rendering parameters, for rendering an image |
RR | RENDER/Creates a photorealistic or realistically shaded image of a 3D solid or surface model |
RW | RENDERWIN/Displays the Render window without starting a rendering operation |
S | STRETCH/Stretches objects crossed by a selection window or polygon |
TC | SCALE/Enlarges or reduces selected objects, keeping the proportions of the object the same after scaling |
SCR | SCRIPT / Executes a sequence of commands from a script file |
SEC | SECTION/Uses the intersection of a plane and solids, surfaces or mesh to create a region |
SET | SETVAR/Lists or changes the values of system variables |
SHA | SHADEMODE/Starts the VSCURRENT command |
SL | SLICE/Creates new 3D solids and surfaces by slicing or dividing, existing objects |
SN | SNAP/Restricts cursor movement to specified intervals |
SO | SOLID/Creates solid-filled triangles and quadrilaterals |
SP | SPELL/Checks spelling in a drawing |
SPE | SPLINEDIT/Edits a spline or spline-fit polyline |
SPL | SPLINE/Creates a smooth curve that passes through or near specified points |
SPLANE | SECTIONPLANE/Creates a section object that acts as a cutting plane through 3D objects |
SPLAY | SEQUENCEPLAY/Plays named views in one category |
SPLIT | MESHSPLIT/Splits a mesh face into two faces |
SSM | SHEETSET/Opens the Sheet Set Manager |
TS | STYLE/Creates, modifies or specifies text styles |
STA | STANDARDS/Manages the association of standards files with drawings |
SU | SUBTRACT/Combines selected 3D solids, surfaces or 2D regions by subtraction |
T | MTEXT/Creates a multi-line text object |
TA | TEXTALIGN/Aligns multiple text objects vertically, horizontally or obliquely |
TB | TABLE/Creates an empty table object |
TED | TEXTEDIT/Edits a dimensional constraint, dimension or text object |
TH | THICKNESS/Sets the default 3D thickness property when creating 2D geometric objects |
TI | TILEMODE/Controls whether paper space can be accessed |
TOL | TOLERANCE/Creates geometric tolerances contained in a feature control frame |
TOR | TORUS/Creates a doughnut-shaped 3D solid |
TP | TOOLPALETTES/Opens the Tool Palettes window |
TR | TRIM/Trims objects to meet the edges of other objects |
ST | TABLESTYLE/Creates, modifies or specifies table styles |
UC | UCSMAN/Manages defined user co-ordinate systems. |
UN | UNITS/Controls co-ordinate and angle display formats and precision. |
UNHIDE/UNISOLATE | UNISOLATEOBJECTS/Displays objects previously hidden with the ISOLATEOBJECTS or HIDEOBJECTS command. |
UNI | UNION/Unions two solid or two region objects. |
V | VIEW/Saves and restores named views, camera views, layout views and preset views. |
VGO | VIEWGO/Restores a named view. |
VP | VPOINT/Sets the 3D viewing direction. |
VPLAY | VIEWPLAY/Plays the animation associated to a named view. |
VS | VSCURRENT/Sets the visual style in the current viewport. |
VSM | VISUALSTYLES/Creates and modifies visual styles and applies a visual style to a viewport. |
W | WBLOCK/Writes objects or a block to a new drawing file. |
WE | WEDGE/Creates a 3D solid wedge. |
WHEEL | NAVSWHEEL/Displays a wheel that contains a collection of view navigation tools. |
X | EXPLODE/Breaks a compound object into its component objects. |
XA | XATTACH/Inserts a DWG file as an external reference (xref). |
XB | XBIND/Binds one or more definitions of named objects in an xref to the current drawing. |
XC | XCLIP/Crops the display of a selected external reference or block reference to a specified boundary. |
XL | XLINE/Creates a line of infinite length. |
XR | XREF/Starts the EXTERNALREFERENCES command. |
Z | ZOOM/Increases or decreases the magnification of the view in the current viewport. |
ZEBRA | ANALYSISZEBRA/Projects stripes onto a 3D model to analyse surface continuity. |
ZIP | ETRANSMIT/Creates a self-extracting or zipped transmittal package. |